Relaxation apparatus for a draw winder for synthetic threads



F. GRAF 3,460,215

RELAXATION APPARATUS FOR A DRAW WINDER FOR SYNTHETIC THREADS Aug. 12, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 7, 1967 fig. 2

INVENTOR.

F'EL IX GRHP K 1969 F. GRAF 3,460,215

RELAXATION APPARATUS FOR A DRAW WINDER FOR SYNTHETIC THREADS Filed Dec. 7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

FEL/X GFF/QF United States Patent U.S. Cl. 28-62 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The relaxation apparatus is pivotally mounted with respect to the drawing roller of the draw winder in a precise manner about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the thread windings between the drawing roller and lower adjacent guide roller. In addition, the upper auxiliary guide roller is independently mounted for pivoting about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the thread windings between the heating element and auxiliary guide roller.

This invention relates to a draw winder. More particularly, this invention relates to a relaxation apparatus for a draw winder as used in the manufacture of synthetic fiber.

Heretofore, the guide rollers of relaxation units disposed adjacent a drawing roller of a draw winder for synthetic threads have been secured to the draw winder frame in a manner which required loosening of the guide roller each time a change in the inclination of the thread loops about the drawing roller and guide .roller was necessitated. Further, after loosening and orienting of the axis of the guide roller to the desired position, the guide roller required securement in place as by bolting. However, a reliable precision adjustment of the axis of the guide roller has frequently not been possible in these situations. This is disadvantageous as the exact maintenance of the prescribed inclination of the guide roller axis and the consequent controlled distances between individual thread loops is necessary to the production of a thread of quality. Further, an equal angle of inclination of the thread loops from one relaxing unit to the adjacent relaxing unit could not be guaranteed in the heretofore known draw winders. Because of this latter disadvantage, non-uniform heat influences have arisen in the relaxed threads and have led to diversified relaxation tensions in the threads along with the undesirable known heterogeneities in the molecular structure.

Thread regulators have been known to have a single guide roller which is positioned adjacent to a drawing roller at a thread brake swingable about an axis parallel to the drawing roller axis. However, turning of such a guide roller does not cause any change in the spacing of the thread loops in operation.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to precisely adjust the angle of inclination of a guide roller of a thread relaxation apparatus relative to a drawing roller of a draw winder.

It is another object of the invention to control the distances between adjacent thread windings during relaxation in a draw winder.

Briefly, the invention provides a draw winder for highpolymer monoor multi-filaments or threads with a relaxation apparatus which is adjustable in a manner to vary the angle of inclination between the drawing roller of the draw winder and the relaxation apparatus. The relaxation apparatus includes a guide roller positioned adjacent the drawing roller, an auxiliary guide roller and a heating element between the guide rollers about which a thread from the drawing roller is wound. The guide rollers and heating element are mounted on a base carrier which is adjustably pivotally mounted on the draw winder frame about an axis essentially perpendicular to a tangential plane of the thread segments at the winding position of the thread from the drawing roller to the ad jacent guide roller. In addition, the auxiliary guide roller is adjustably mounted on the carrier by means of an adjusting means in a manner so as to be pivoted with respect to the axis of the carrier.

The base carrier is provided at its upper end with an adjusting means for pivoting the carrier relative to the winder frame so that the guide roller adjacent the drawing roller can be pivoted in a simple precise manner about the axis perpendicular to the tangential plane of the thread segments between the drawing roller and guide roller, that is, in a plane substantially parallel to the tangential plane. By manipulating the adjusting means the angle of inclination of the guide roller relative to the drawing roller can thus be easily changed.

In addition, since the auxiliary guide roller is also pivotable relative to the heating element, the length of the thread segments between the auxiliary guide roller and heating element can also be precisely varied. In one embodiment, where the upper end of the heating element is of width about equal to the diameter of the auxiliary guide roller, the auxiliary guide roller is pivoted in the plane of the guide roller axes of the relaxation apparatus. In another embodiment, where the heating element is greater in width than the auxiliary guide roller, the auxiliary guide roller is pivoted in a plane parallel to a tangential plane of the thread segments between the heating element and auxiliary guide roller.

In order to provide accurate adjustments to be made in a plurality of relaxation units, a number of relaxation units are mounted on a common rail means which is pivotally secured to the draw winder frame so that adjustments of a number of guide rollers can be accomplished simultaneously.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a draw winder incorporating a relaxing device of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of an arrangement of a heating element, guide rollers and draw roller according to the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the base carrier of the invention mounted on the frame of the draw winder;

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of the adjusting means for adjusting the inclination of the auxiliary guide roller relative to the carrier; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a view of a modified arrangement according to the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the draw winder has a plurality of drawing zones 1 each of which includes a pair of low speed feed rollers 2 and a drawing roller 3 which rotates at a higher speed than the feed rollers in order to stretch threads of monoor multi-filaments between the feed rollers 2 and drawing roller 3. In addition, a thread relaxing apparatus is disposed adjacent the drawing roller 3 in order to relax the tension in the stretched thread. The relaxing apparatus includes a rotatable guide roll 4 which is driven by the thread windings 5 and supported on a base carrier 6 adjacent the drawing roller 3, a heating element 7 and an auxiliary guide roller 8 which are also supported on the base 6.

The base carriers 6, 6, 6" are formed as a group and are pivotally mounted as a unit to a frame 9 of the draw winder about a pivot axis 10. The pivot axis 10 is located between the drawing roller 3 and guide roller 4 and is perpendicular to the plane E of the thread segments 11 3 which extend in a tangential plane between the drawing roller 3 and the guide roller 4 (FIG. 2). The tangential plane E is intentionally oriented vertically to the longitudinal axis of the draw winder since such is constructionally advantageous and allow the base carriers 6, 6, 6" which are arranged in parallel relation to the longitudinal axis of the draw winder to be pivoted as a group about the common pivot axis 10. An L-shaped rail 13 secured to the lower position of the base carrier group is used to mount the base carrier group about the pivot axis 10. The rail 13 has a horizontal flange 14 secured to the frame 9, as by screws, and a vertical flange 15 secured to the bottoms of the base carriers 6, 6', 6". The juncture between the flanges 14, 15 of the rail 13 corresponds theoretically with the pivot axis of the base carrier group. The flanges 14, which form a mutual included angle a are deformable with respect to each other such that the included angle at can be varied.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, in order to vary the included angle of the rail 13 so as to regulate the inclination of the base carriers 6, 6, 6" a regulating means is secured between the frame 9 and the upper end of the base carriers. This regulating means includes a rail 18 which is fixed to each base carrier of the group and at least two adjustment screws 17 which pass through the rail 18 and are threaded into suitable tap holes 16 in the frame 9. Since only a small degree of adjustment is needed, the connection of the rail 18 with each adjustment screw 17 is obtained in a simple manner by having each screw 17 pass through a slightly larger bore 19 than the screw in the rail 18 and by securing each screw 17 on both sides of the rail 18 by means of deformable washers 20 and nuts 21.

Referring to FIG. 4, in order to vary the inclination of the auxiliary guide roller 8 to the base carrier 6, the auxiliary guide roller 8 is secured to an adjusting means mounted in the upper end of the base carrier 6. This adjusting means includes a flat spring 22 which is pivotally secured, as by a bolt, to the base carrier on an axis U passing through the upper end of the heating element 7 and to which the auxiliary guide roller 8 is fixedly secured. In addition, an adjustment screw 23 is threadably mounted in the base carrier to abut the upper end of the fiat spring 22 on the opposite side of the auxiliary guide roller 8 in order to move the upper end of the flat spring 22 from the base carrier 6.

Referring to FIG. 2, the distance between the ends of the convex heating surfaces of the heating element 7 contacting the thread segments correspond approximately to the diameter of the respective guide rollers 4, 8 so that the pivot plane of the auxiliary guide roller axis coincides with a plane E passing through both guide roller axes. This plane E is essentially parallel to the tangential plane E as well as to a similarly formed plane of the thread segments between the auxiliary guide roller 8 and upper end of the heating element 7.

Referring to FIG. 5, where a winder heating element is used, the orienting of the auxiliary guide roller 24 to a tangential plane T containing the thread segments between the guide roller 24 and heating elements as shown is accomplished in an alternative manner than that above. In this alternative manner, the auxiliary guide roller 24 is secured to a leaf spring 26 which in turn is secured to a base carrier 27 by means of a screw as above. However, this adjustment screw 28 is positioned at a point A in a plane P parallel to the tangential plane T of the thread segments. In this manner, the pivot axis S of the leaf spring 26 about the screw 25 is perpendicular to the tangential plane T or P at the upper end of the heating element.

In use, the inclination of the auxiliary guide roller 8 (FIG. 4) with respect to the lower guide roller 4 is adjustable in a range of from 1 to 2% Additionally, the base carrier groups are adjustable with respect to the draw winder frame 9 (FIG. 3) so as to adjust the angle of the lower guide roller 4 with respect to the axis of the draw roller 3 in a range of from 2 to 5. That is, the angle of inclination a of the flanges of the rail 13 is equal to 90i(2 to 5).

Should the tangential plane containing the thread segments on the guide roller adjacent the drawing roller be incapable of being disposed vertically for constructional reasons such that the pivot axes of each relaxation apparatus are different from those of the others, then, in order to obtain an adjustment for the correct thread position on each relaxation unit, an individual adjustment of the auxiliary guide roller as well as an individual adjustment of the relaxation apparatus is required. However, in practice, such a solution is only followed in compelling situations.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a draw winder for synthetic threads having a drawing roller; a thread relaxation apparatus comprising a carrier pivotally mounted at one end to said draw winder, a guide roller mounted on said carrier adjacent said drawing roller, an auxiliary guide roller mounted on said carrier, and a heating element mounted on said carrier between said guide rollers; and means for pivoting said carrier on said draw winder relative to said drawing roller about an axis essentially perpendicular with respect to a tangential plane between said drawing roller and said guide roller.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said axis is disposed in a plane between said drawing roller and said guide'roller.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means includes a rail secured to an opposite end of said carrier and an adjustment screw connected to said rail and adjustably secured to said draw winder for moving said opposite end of said carrier relative to said draw winder.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1 which further includes a deformable L-shaped rail having a first flange secured to said draw winder and a second flange secured to said one end of said carrier to pivotally mount said carrier on said draw winder, said flanges being pivotable with respect to each other.

5. The combination as set forth in claim 4 wherein said flanges are pivoted to each other to form an individual angle of 90i(2 to 5).

6. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said auxiliary guide roller is pivotally mounted on said carrier about a second axis essentially perpendicular to a tangential plane between said heating element and said auxiliary guide roller.

7. The combination as set forth in claim 6 wherein said second axis is disposed in a plane within the upper end of said heating element.

8. The combination as set forth in claim 6 which further includes a leaf spring secured to 'an opposite end of said carrier and to said auxiliary guide roller and an adjustment screw threadably mounted in said carrier in abutment with said leaf spring to move one end of said leaf spring away from said carrier for adjusting the angle of inclination of said auxiliary guide roller relative to said guide roller and said carrier.

9. The combination as set forth in claim 8 wherein said angle of inclination of said auxiliary guide roller is adjustable relative to said carrier in a range of from 1 to 2% 10. The combination as set forth in claim 1 which further includes a plurality of said relaxation apparatus, each said relaxationapparatus being mounted at one end on a common rail pivotally secured to said draw winder for pivoting about a common axis and at the opposite end to said pivoting means. V

11. The combination as set forth in claim 10 wherein said pivoting means includes a second common rail secured to an opposite end of said carrier of each relaxation apparatus and at least a pair of adjustment screws connected to said second common rail and adjustably secured to said draw winder for pivoting said relaxation apparatus simultaneously with respect to said draw winder.

12. In combination a drawing roller for synthetic thread; a thread relaxation apparatus comprising a carrier pivotally mounted at one end relative to said drawing roller, a guide roller mounted on said carrier adjacent said drawing roller, an auxiliary guide roller mounted on said carrier, and a heating element mounted on said carrier between said guide rollers; and means for pivoting said carrier relative to said drawing roller about an axis essentially perpendicular with respect to a tangential plane containing the synthetic thread segments between said drawing roller and said guide roller.

13. The combination as set forth in claim 12 wherein said axis is disposed in a plane between said drawing roller and said guide roller.

14. The combination as set forth in claim 12 wherein said auxiliary guide roller is pivotally mounted on said carrier about a second axis essentially perpendicular to a tangential plane between said heating element and said auxiliary guide roller.

15. The combination as set forth in claim 14 wherein said second axis is disposed in a plane within the upper end of said heating element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1960 Great Britain. 9/1967 Switzerland.

JAM-ES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 28-71* 57-34 

